Skip to main content

Stakes Through the Heart

Fvampirerom Treehuggers’ Sarah Hodgson:

"Every new nuclear plant licensed and built is a stake thru the heart of energy efficiency, offshore wind, solar, and other clean energy sources," said Susan [Corbett, the chair of the South Carolina Sierra Club.]

A stake through the heart? Isn’t that what you do to the undead? In any event, Happy Halloween! (Yes, yes, it’s Monday, but the parties will be this weekend.)

Oh, and you can buy the t-shirt here.

---

From the AP, about Florida Power & Light getting permission from its Public Service Commission to charge ratepayers a little more while pursuing new nuclear generation:

The law is being challenged in federal court and legislation has been introduced to repeal it next year. A similar bill this year failed to get traction in the Legislature, which passed the cost recovery law in 2006 to encourage the expansion of nuclear power. Utilities otherwise would have to borrow the money, but many investors are reluctant to take a chance on nuclear plants.

Uh, no. No problem with the challenge or legislation, which aggrieved people have a right to pursue, but the reason to do this has nothing to do with skittish investors.

This is closer to correct:

The projects will add an estimated 2,614 MW of nuclear power to FPL's generation portfolio. FPL says the projects will save its customers up to $1.5 billion in the long term.

Why? Because FPL can avoid interest charges by paying off loans earlier and by pursuing some activities without loans. This is a great way to pursue all kinds of public works, not just energy facilities. It is not without controversy – call it the bird in the hand vs. the two in the bushel controversy - but it’s important to correctly describe it.

We may come back to this story when it’s moved along a little more.

---

From Amory Lovins:

Amory Lovins, the chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute and the author of influential books like Winning the Oil Endgame and Natural Capitalism, is back with a new book--and this time, he's claiming that the U.S. can do the seemingly impossible: run an economy that's 158% larger by 2050 without any coal, oil, nuclear energy, or new inventions (and one-third less natural gas).

I have a real weakness for big dreamers with big plans, so I have to salute Lovins at this particular crossing for pulling together the whole energy sphere to make it fit his own particular prejudices and preferences.

"It's first about realizing that it's possible, and second, realizing that it's profitable. There are $5 trillion [in new economic value] on the table and you can get your piece of it," says Lovins. These economic opportunities will be found in more efficient vehicles, energy-saving buildings, more productive and efficient industry, and greater use of renewable energy.

“And you can get your piece of it.” Points for salesmanship, too. It feels a bit like renewable snake oil, but I think Lovins is utterly sincere. Sincere doesn’t equal correct, but hey!, it’s the future we’re talking about here. Dreaming big about the future is always permitted.

Check out a well-informed – and even epic - retort to Lovins’ views on nuclear energy here, by our own David Bradish.

---

liberty6Did you know the Statue of Liberty is 125 years old today? Sculptor Frederic Bartholdi undertook the project in 1865 as a joint project of his native France and the United States, with Bartholdi creating the statue and the U.S. the pedestal and base. The goal was to dedicate the statue on July 4, 1876 to commemorate the centennial.

The head and the right arm were finished first and displayed separately in the U.S. to help raise funds for the pedestal. When this did not prove adequate, New York World publisher Joseph Pulitzer started a drive through the newspaper and collected 120,000 donations, many of them under a dollar. But it was enough. The deadline was blown – who cares? – and the statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

The picture shows Liberty still under construction in France. Presumably, the torch arm was still touring the U.S.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Why Ex-Im Bank Board Nominations Will Turn the Page on a Dysfunctional Chapter in Washington

In our present era of political discord, could Washington agree to support an agency that creates thousands of American jobs by enabling U.S. companies of all sizes to compete in foreign markets? What if that agency generated nearly billions of dollars more in revenue than the cost of its operations and returned that money – $7 billion over the past two decades – to U.S. taxpayers? In fact, that agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), was reauthorized by a large majority of Congress in 2015. To be sure, the matter was not without controversy. A bipartisan House coalition resorted to a rarely-used parliamentary maneuver in order to force a vote. But when Congress voted, Ex-Im Bank won a supermajority in the House and a large majority in the Senate. For almost two years, however, Ex-Im Bank has been unable to function fully because a single Senate committee chairman prevented the confirmation of nominees to its Board of Directors. Without a quorum

NEI Praises Connecticut Action in Support of Nuclear Energy

Earlier this week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed SB-1501 into law, legislation that puts nuclear energy on an equal footing with other non-emitting sources of energy in the state’s electricity marketplace. “Gov. Malloy and the state legislature deserve praise for their decision to support Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and the 1,500 Connecticut residents who work there," said NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick. "By opening the door to Millstone having equal access to auctions open to other non-emitting sources of electricity, the state will help preserve $1.5 billion in economic activity, grid resiliency and reliability, and clean air that all residents of the state can enjoy," Korsnick said. Millstone Power Station Korsnick continued, "Connecticut is the third state to re-balance its electricity marketplace, joining New York and Illinois, which took their own legislative paths to preserving nuclear power plants in 2016. Now attention should